Non-conducting covering



(No Model.)

R. H. MARTIN. NON-CONDUCTING COVERING.

No. 497,382. Patented May 16, 1393."

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.out the bat and yet there is not present so ROBERT l-I. MARTIN, OF

NON-CONDUCT SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PATENT OFFICE.

BROOKLYN, NljllV YORK.

ING COVERING.

Patent No. 497,382, dated May 16, 1893.

Application filed February 4, 1891. Serial No. 380.213. (N0 specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT H. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Non-Conducting Coverings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to non-conducting coverings to prevent conduction of heat or cold and it consists in a novel method of constructing-such product and in the product so produced.

My improved non-conducting material is made in the form of a sheet of asbestus fiber in loose or fiocky state w 10 shalhbe peculiarly soft, flexible, elastic and porous, being in the nature of a soft bat or wad, and the fibers are held together by an adhesive material which extends here and there, throughout the entire thickness of the bat, so that it is held together by the adhesion of the fibers to each other at innumerable points throughmuch adhesive material as to interfere with the softness, flexibility, elasticity and porosity of the sheet or bat and owing to the method employed by me for introducing the adhesive or cementitious material, I am enabled to get a lighter product, possessing the qualities before referred to, than any heretofore known to me. I also avoid an objectionable feature in other similar products, that is to say, they are liable to split, because my sheet or bat is made in one thickness and the fibers extend without scams or layers, from one side to the other side of the bat.

To make my improved product I feed the fiberized and cleansed asbestus fiber to a picker by which it is thoroughly disintegrated and thrown onto a traveling apron in such quantities as may be desired to make the sheet or bat of the requisite thickness. The

fiber is deposited upon the apron in an even manner.

I apply my ccmentitious material as follows: When using a dry cementitious material or size, such as search, glue, dextrine, lime, cemout or other adhesivematerial of that character, I grind it fine,in some instances so fine as to be practically a powder. In other instances, I leave it in larger particles, and this powder or granulated material I feed through the picker together with the asbestus fiber, so that in the bat which is deposited upon the apron, the cementitious material is scattered here and there throughout the mass of fibers in innumerable small particles being held by the fibers in the bat. made and preferably before any considerable handling of the same, it is subjected to moisture. steam, or water or other liquid ejected from an atomizer maybe blown or otherwise forced through the bat. In this way the cementitious material is actedupon by the moisture and dissolving, adheres the fibers to each other at innumerable points, each point of adhesion, however, being exceedingly small, so as not to interfere with the lightness, porosity, flexibility and softness of the product. Instead of using cementitious material which is to be acted upon by moisture, I may use material which will be rendered adhesive by heat, such as groundshellac and variousgums, and when such materials are used they may be fed with the fibrous material to the pick- Preferably a blast of low temperature As soon as the bat is v ers the same as before stated, and then after the bat is made, it may be subjected in any suitable manner to the action of heat, which will act upon the adhesive material in such manner as to cause the fibers to be attached together as before stated.

Although for-many purposes, I prefer to,

employ asbestus fiber alone asthe fibrous material, for other uses I admix other fiber, animal'or vegetable, together with the asbestus fiber, and a characteristic difference between my fabric and those which are made of fibrous material other than asbestus, is this: that a bat can be made of cow hair, wool, cotton, hemp and other fibrous material, without requiring any cementitious material to aid in binding or holding it together because fibrous material has the quality of tenaciously hold ing together when fibers arebrought into contact with each other. Asbestus fiber, however, is peculiar in the respect that it has no tenacity of itself. On the contrary it is of the class of natural lubricants, and a bat made of asbestus fiber, or of material in which asbestus fiber constitutes a large part, will lack the necessary strength to hold it together, if made as compact as I make my bats, unless an adhesive material be employed, and never be fore, so far as I am aware, has a bat been made in which the fibers throughout the bat have been attached to each other as mine are, and never before has my method been employed so far as I am aware. Asbestus felts have been treated upon the outside With adhesive material but they are liable to split as before sugoonducting character maybe used as an adulterate or filler and may be included with the asbestus if desired.

I claim- 1. The method herein described of making bats or sheets, consisting in feeding to asuitable machine, the fibrous material in soft flocculent condition andsimultaneouslytherewith distributing throughout the fibrous material, adhesive material, substantially as set forth.

2. The method herein described, consisting in feeding to a suitable machine asbestus fiber, and simultaneously therewith feeding cementitious material in dry and finely divided condition and subjecting the resulting bat or sheet to the action of an agency which will make the adhesive material, adhesive, substantially as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a soft, flexible, elastic and porous bat or sheet, embodying asbestus fibers, which are attached together throughout the sheet or bat at separated points of adhesion, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof Iatfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

- R. H. MARTIN. Witnesses:

E. B. BARNUM, Josnrn CARSON. 

